Hitchhikers of the Vortex
by scifigeekgirl
Summary: AU ending to The Doctor's Wife.  Eleven, Rory and Amy get some surprise visitors
1. Hitchhikers of the Vortex

a/n: This is quite obviously completely AU starting at the end of The Doctors Wife. It picks up toward the end of the episode when Rory and Amy come down to talk to the Doctor who is working on the Tardis in sort of a swing. A big shout out to who_in_whoville who beta read it for me. Huge thank you to you Who!

This is in response to a prompt for the Doctor-Rose Summer Fixathon - What if Idris had whispered "Bad Wolf" to Rory at the end of The Doctor's Wife.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything in the Whoverse.

**Hitchhikers of the Vortex **

"Doctor, at the end, Idris was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant?" Rory told the Doctor, as he looked perplexed at all the dangling cables hanging down from the console as the Doctor sat in a swing making repairs.

The Doctor stood up and walked over to Rory absently sonicing one of the cables. "What did she say?"

"Bad Wolf. She said it was important and you'd understand. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

The Doctor stilled and his eyes widened as he stared at Rory. His expression quickly disappeared as he bounded back upstairs to the main console. "Fairytales, myths and legends Rory. Must have been some spare thought before she transferred back. Especially with you Ponds about. Who better to inspire a fairytale than the Ponds. Look it at you two." he told them, as he dashed about checking readings and flipping switches. He paused and looked back at Rory.

"Something else wrong Rory? You look a bit out of sorts."

"It's just, I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse," he told the Doctor, with a look of concern on his face.

"Letting it get to you, you know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts." The Doctor knelt down and began sonicing another wire. "Nearly finished. Two more minutes, then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hang of restful. What do you think, dear? Where shall we take the kids this time?" the Doctor said, patting the console.

Amy walked over to him looking down at him in amusement. "Look at you pair. It's always you and her, isn't it? Long after the rest of us have gone. A boy and his box, off to see the universe," she told him, smiling.

"Well, you say that as if it's a bad thing. But honestly, it's the best thing there is." The Doctor spun around to face Amy and Rory. "The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Rory leaned over and whispered to Amy. "Doctor, do you think that maybe we could lose the bunk beds this time," Amy asked him.

"Nah, bunk beds are cool. A bed with a ladder! You can't beat that." Amy and Rory looked at him with annoyance.

"Oh fine, It's your room after all. Up those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop!"

Amy quickly grabbed Rory's hand, her eyes sparkling with excitement to see what new room awaited them and dragged him toward the corridor. Once they were gone, the Doctor walked closer to the console and stared at the time rotor. "What was that all about? What were you thinking? Rose is gone and in good hands." He paused and smiled. "The best hands. She deserves to be happy don't you think? So Eye of Orion or wherever you need to take me," he told the Tardis, smiling. The dematerialization lever moved and off they went. Everything was as smooth as could be expected when all of sudden, it wasn't.

The Tardis bounced and tilted around making multiple screeching noises while the cloister bell sounded and sparks flew off the console. Amy and Rory raced into the control room.

"Doctor, What's happening!" Amy demanded, as she raced over to stand beside him holding onto the console for dear life and Rory clung to the railing. The Tardis doors flew open and the swirling infinity of the time vortex shone an eerie light into the interior of the console room. Tendrils of the vortex snaked in through the doors as the Doctor screamed at Rory and Amy.

"Stay back! Don't touch it!"

Suddenly, a massive ball of golden light burst forth into the Tardis landing a few feet from the console. The Doctor stared at it in fascination as wisps of golden energy slowly leached away and two figures emerged clinging together and then falling apart laying next to each other on the ramp to the console. Eventually, the Doctor could see two humanoid figures and as the golden energy ebbed away from them and was absorbed into the Tardis time rotor, facial features emerged

Soon, enough of the golden energy dissipated to reveal a blond haired woman dressed in a tight fitting black leather jacket, with a bright purple shirt underneath, with blue jeans and purple trainers. Next to her, was a young man with short wavy brown hair dressed in a dark brown bomber jacket with a green shirt, blue jeans and boots. The blonde sat up gasping for breath and turned to the man next to her shouting "No!"

The Doctor was stunned and whispered one word, "Rose."

Amy stared at the Doctor's shocked expression which quickly metamorphosed into an almost tender look while Rory ran over to help the unconscious man by taking his pulse as Rose with tears running down her face was whispering to him in some language Rory had never heard and which the Tardis refused to translate. As suddenly as Rose awoke, so did the young man. He gasped and cried out. He turned to her "Mumsy, I'm dying." He groaned in pain, his eyes tightly shut.

"No, no your not. You know what you have to do," she told him.

"I don't know how," he told her, his face grimacing in pain. Soon golden energy was streaking beneath his skin and he was beginning to glow. He struggled to stand up and stared at the Doctor, his eyes filled with fear. Rose ran up to him and looked him in the eyes.

"I believe in you. Follow your instincts. It's gonna be fine," she told him, her voice cracking as more tears fell down her face. He stared at her before looking up and screaming as he burst into golden fire in front of all of them. Rose yanked Rory away just in time as the man completed his regeneration in front of them. The Doctor ran over to stand next to Rose stunned at the regenerating man before him. "This can't be," he whispered.

The young man ended his regeneration bent over and slowly stood up and looked at Rose. "Mumsy, that hurt! He never told us it would hurt like that." He picked up a lock of long blonde hair and examined it. "Blonde, that's new." He looked at his hands and felt his face. He looked all around the Tardis until he saw Amy. He smiled and practically danced over to her.

"Helllo Ginger! So, how do I look?" he asked with a charming smile, his deep brown eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

Rory ran over to stand protectively next to Amy as they stared at the newly regenerated stranger. "Uh, Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings," Amy finally replied, taking inventory of every detail of the stranger.

Yeah a bit like Legolas except maybe not quite so elfish," Rory added, staring at the stranger's ears.

The stranger touched his ears a bit and then broke out into a grin. "Blimey, I'm gorgeous!" he shouted out exuberantly. He turned to Rose. "Oh, the others will be so jealous." Rose reached into her pocket and tossed him a hair band which he used to bind up his long blonde hair into a pony tail. He walked around looking at everything. "So this is the old girl. She is one well endowed Tardis!" He gently caressed the console.

Finally, the Doctor broke out of his stunned silence. "Stop that and show some respect whoever you are. This is my Tardis and I won't have you barging in here and groping her," the Doctor told him, while pacing back and forth on the other side of the console, making adjustments as he stared suspiciously at the stranger.

"Oooo old ancient and forever is a crotchety one isn't he. Now, I know where the old man got it," he answered cheekily.

"That's enough!" Rose shouted at him. "I know you're all newly regenerated and feelin' all perky and enthusiastic but please try to be nice. We're guests here and he's right we did sort of barge in even though it wasn't our fault. Stupid, arrogant, megalomaniac tosser," she answered, crossing her arms looking perturbed.

"Who's crotchety!" the Doctor shouted indignantly, whipping around the console.. "And what you mean ancient and the others will be jealous? What others?" He demanded tripping as he stomped over to the young stranger. "You have a name, something you call yourself?" the Doctor demanded as he circled him.

The young blonde smiled brightly with a mischievous look "Oh, just call me Jack," he answered.

"Jack" He paused and turned to Rose. "Rose, you are not telling me you named him after Jack Harkness are you. I, I can't believe other me wouldn't have had something to say about that."

Rose smiled and laughed. "We break into your Tardis mid-flight in the vortex and that's what's upsettin' you? The thought that I named my son after Jack. Really, Doctor. Besides, he's old enough to decide what he wants people to call him. If he wants to be called Jack, nothin' I can do about it." She shrugged and walked over to Jack and gave him a quick hug. He looked down at his mother with affection and embraced her pulling her up and off the ground before setting her back down.

"Who's Jack Harkness?" Amy demanded, now looking at the Doctor suspiciously.

Jack laughed. "When I was just a little, adorable, brilliant child, Mumsy used to tell me all kinds of stories about when she and Dad first traveled about. My favorites were always about this friend they traveled with, Jack Harkness. Hope to meet him one day."

"No!" both Rose and the Doctor shouted simultaneously. The Doctor turned to Rose. "Right, time for answers." He turned to her expectantly, as he leaned against the railing around the console, arms crossed.

"Well, we sort of landed here by accident. Sorry wrong Tardis."

The Doctor stood straight and walked over to her and began gesturing with his hands. "What do you mean wrong Tardis and what about Jack here being all adult and regenerating and you're still young and well, you!"

"Well, he's my son and other you's son and we're a bit complicated." She answered toying with her hair and looking anywhere but at him. "We were aiming for my eldest's Tardis. Sorry about that."

"And surfing the vortex? Wait, eldest's Tardis?" The Doctor was now pacing and flailing about in a tizzy.

"Oh, welll we may have had a bit of tiff with this powerful, evil, psychopath. He sort of threw us in the vortex as part of his evil plan to take over the universe. You know how it goes." She told him shrugging her shoulders and waiving her hand like it was no big deal. "Anyway, we were hoping to land on my other son's Tardis. Bein' about to die and in the vortex without transport and all, we may have gotten a bit turned around."

"Do I want to know how you got to this universe?"

"It's complicated," Rose answered him.

He walked over until he was in front of her. "That's no answer!"

Jack walked over to them. "Hello old guy, mind if I just pop over to the wardrobe. Feeling a little dingy here after floatin' about in the vortex."

The Doctor glared it him. "Amy, Rory take Jack here back and find something for him to well, wear I suppose. Don't let him take any of the good stuff. The fezz is mine! Hands off!" he said, pointing at Jack.

"Doctor, what do you mean how did she get to this universe and I thought you were the only Time Lord left?" Amy demanded, standing in front of him with a stubborn look in her eyes.

"I am the last Time Lord. This young pup is something else," The Doctor told her arrogantly, as he glared at Jack who just smiled back at him as if it was one big joke. "Now then Ponds, take Jack back to the wardrobe and keep an eye on him."

"But Doctor," Amy tried to argue. Rory grabbed her hand and hauled her away telling Jack to follow them. Jack winked at Rose and practically ran down the corridor trailed by Amy and Rory while offering to tell stories about the Doctor's past.

"There is no way that my DNA is in that one," he commented, shaking his head. He turned to Rose, grabbing her hand and jerked her down the corridor toward the library.

"Doctor, what you doin'? Stop, really can't we just.."

"No."

He pulled her in and soniced the door shut. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded.

"What is wrong with me!" he shouted as he stormed over to her as she backed up until she hit a wall. He towered over her and placed a hand on the wall on either side of her and leaned in until his forehead almost touched hers. "You're different," he stated in an almost accusing manner. "You're hair's darker."

"Yeah well your's isn't ginger," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "Why, you got a problem with me being different," she asked.

"I don't know." He closed his eyes, sighing and then opened them staring into her eyes. "I can hear you," he whispered in wonder.

"What do you mean," she asked softly, losing herself in his gaze as the feel of being in the Tardis and close to him began to envelope her with a sense of comfort and warmth.

"It's like a melody but not like the Tardis. You, Rose Tyler, you impossible girl, you are something new," he told her, now gazing at her with an equal amount of wonder and curiosity.

"So I'm different and something new. Would that be good different or bad different," she asked him, cheekily with the patent Tyler grin on her face.

He smiled. "Oh good different I think. We'll see. I Haven't made up my mind yet."

"Hmmm. Nice tie by the way," she commented as she deftly straightened it and absently brushing her fingers down his chest.

"Bow ties are cool," he told her, straightening himself up.

"They certainly are," she agreed, as she leaned in closer.

He pulled back suddenly. "What about other me?"

Rose leaned back against the wall and looked over his shoulder at some distant point. "We were together until…" she drifted off, a sad look passing over her face.

"Oh. Unexpected this all is. Not what I planned," he told her his stance relaxing a bit.

"So, now you have plans do you?"

"I'll have you know, I always have plans. Sometimes plans within plans. It's who I am. The planner. The planner Doctor whose an incredibly snappy dresser. Oh, and who has a fez… somewhere."

"Well that makes all the difference," she told him, and burst out with a giggle.

"Some things haven't changed. You are still inherently Rose, but you're not a young girl any more. Oh no, you're definitely…"

"What," she asked him, her eyes gazing into his as they moved closer together until they were barely touching.

"Oh, impossible Rose, time it moves differently about you. I may have been a bit daft back when I saw you last but I wanted what was best for you. I saw a brilliant future and I wanted you to have it. Look at you all glowy and a Mum and well mature, but in a good way not in a boring way."

She smiled and traced a finger down his face. "Nice face. Heard a rumor about you. Said you blew up the universe. Brings back memories," she told him.

"There were Daleks, Rose. More than Daleks really, but I did what needed to be done. Tell me about the children."

She smiled and turned away from him walking around the library trailing her fingers along the books. "I missed her ya know. She's… Sexy?" Rose turned around and looked at him eyebrows raised.

"What? She said it not me," he told her, fidgeting and playing with his sonic.

Rose burst out laughing. "Right and that's why there's always been all the sweet talk and caressing the console."

"What, I'm suppose to ignore her. Nothing wrong with giving encouragement and besides, she's blue, temporal and magnificent."

Rose smiled and cocked her head to the side. "You know I can hear her. Not in proper words but…I can feel things. It's more now. Other you always said it was absorbin' the time vortex. Made me and her a bit connected. She feels sort of happy I think." Rose walked over to his desk and sat on the edge. "We did it you know. We grew a Tardis. Traveled a bit. Grew more for the kids. Been hiding from you. Trying to stay out of your way and not muck up timelines and all," She looked up at him. "You don't know how hard it's been to stay away. The kids, they're not Time Lords, but they can see timelines and regenerate. Don't know how long they'll live except longer than me I spose. Don't really want to know when I'll end so I can't really say," she told him, with a soft smile.

He walked over and picked up her hands in his. "You could stay."

She smiled and looked up into the infinite depth of his eyes. "You know I can't. At least, not yet. Promise me if you run into one of the kids, you won't turn away. They're a bit curious and get into loads of trouble. A bit like you."

"Jeopardy friendly. Sounds more like you." he told her, running his hands up her arms and pulling her close.

"Oh shut up," she told him as she grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face down to hers. As she kissed him, she ran her hands around his back and in to his hair, deepening the kiss. He acted like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands and after a few awkward moments of flailing about tightened his arms around her and pulled her body up close and molded it into his. She moaned into his mouth as his hands finally started to explore her body. She backed him into the couch where he fell backwards pulling her down on top of him. He looked up at her bit startled. She grinned down at him, just the tip of pink tongue peaking out the side of her mouth.

He laughed. "Still got the moves?" she asked him, with a bit of cheek.

"Let's find out," he told her, with a wicked smile.

Just as clothing was unbuttoned and untucked, the Tardis shook and tilted causing Rose to fall off the Doctor and sofa and roll onto the floor.

He sat up buttoning his shirt. "We've landed" He hopped up and unlocked the door. "Coming," he asked. Rose, still lying on the floor, held up her hand and wiggled her fingers.

"Oh, right." He walked over and grasped her hand, hauling her up and running down the corridor with her hand in hand. When the arrived in the console room they found Jack, Rory and Amy. Jack was staring at the monitor.

"Excellent!" he shouted. "Mumsy, our ride is here."

Rose looked up at the Doctor. "Guess it's time to go."

"You don't have to. You could.."

"No, I can't."

Jack walked over and took her hand. "Sorry old guy, but she really can't. No worries though, think we may run into each other again one day or my sister or brother. Better hope for my brother though. My sister is all.."

"Jack!" Rose chastised him. She walked with him toward the door and turned around. "Take care of him Amy and Rory. He denies it, but he needs someone." She turned and looked at the Doctor. "As for you mister, I'll be seein' you eventually and next time, we'll finish what we started." She winked at him and she and Jack walked out the door.

He stared at the door for a long time. Amy walked over and crossed her arms. "Well!" she demanded. He turned around and started dancing around the console setting coordinates and slamming down switches and buttons. "Well, I believe we were on our way to the Eye of Orion or was it Acapulco" He scratched his head and shrugged. "Oh well same difference." As they dematerialized and Rory and Amy gripped the railing for support he looked back at the door and whispered, "I'll see you soon, Bad Wolf" and smiled.


	2. Never Underestimate a Companion's Assets

a/n: This is the second story in my Eleventh Doctor verse. My first Eleventh Doctor fic - Hitchhikers of the Vortex was set up as a one shot but I am posting everything I write for 11/Rose under one title and making each a chapt. Hope you enjoy and thanks to everyone who commented and favorited Hitchhikers!

Disclaimer: Nope don't own the Doctor or any of his friends in the Whoverse.

**Never Underestimate a Companion's Assets.**

The shouting echoing around the dark cave-like structure of the Xanthan prison was growing louder. Soon it became obvious to anyone who knew her, that Amy Pond was not happy. Various shouted threats and promises of painful retribution became clearer as the prison guards dragged the angry ginger closer to her future incarceration. The stone door slid open with a grinding dusty bang and the furious ginger was unceremoniously thrown inside. Amy jumped up off the cold and dusty stone floor and shouted a most vile Earth expletive at the retreating guards as the stone door dropped with an ominous and final thud. Angry and resentful at being separated from Rory and the Doctor, she failed to notice the outline of the woman leaning against the wall in the shadows of the cell.

"Amy Pond," a female voice called out, with a hint of amusement.

"Whose there?" Amy replied suspiciously.

The woman laughed. "Fancy meetin' you here. Course maybe not, you are after all travelin' with the Doctor. Bein' thrown in the gaol is like a right of passage with him," she told Amy, as she walked into the dim light of the cell.

"Rose?" Amy asked, squinting at the emerging figure. "It is you. What're you doin' here?" Amy demanded, her voice laced with suspicion.

"Same as you I spose. Got caught up in a bit of misunderstandin' is all," Rose told her, wandering around the cold, musty cell. "Not exactly a friendly lot are they?"

"Is Jack around then? Are you waiting on him to bust you out?" Amy asked, her mind whipping through the possibilities of what Rose being here might mean.

Rose laughed. "Jack? Naw, he's off playing on Amblegam. I'm here with my other son. I imagine he's locked up somewhere around here. I take it all three of you were captured then? Don't spose the Doctor is wandering about?" Rose asked, while examining the door to the cell.

"We were all captured. They took the Doctor and Rory away then dragged me in here."

"Yeah, well they are a bit of a patriarchal society. Probably just their way. So, you ready to bust out then?" Rose asked, turning to her and cocking her head to the side.

"You got a plan?" Amy asked crossing her arms.

"Yep!" Rose answered, with a big smile. "Patriarchal societies might have some conservative views of women but blokes are blokes," Rose explained. Amy started to smile when she got the gist of Rose's idea. Soon they were stripping down to their lingerie and fluffing out their hair. Amy lounged on one of the wooden benches in a fashion to make sure she was exposing her long, shapely legs to the best advantage. The black lingerie set she wore only enhanced the effect. Rose screamed at the top of her lungs and leaned against the wall arching her back so the guards couldn't miss her ample cleavage encased in a dark blue, satin and lace frothy confection. The doors slid open and the guards walked in. Rose looked at them and smiled while playing with a piece of her hair.

"My friend seems to have hurt her ankle. Don't spose one of you handsome, strong blokes could give her hand?" she suggested softly and demurely. The guards turned to Amy and a smile started to crack their stern exterior. One walked over to Amy and looked down at her. She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes while one finger trailed down her bra strap. The guard near Rose took a step closer to her. While distracted by her cleavage, he missed seeing Rose pull her sonic from behind her back, activating it to setting 6B33 which was the stun setting. As he was collapsing, she walked behind the guard who was completely entranced by Amy and stunned him as well.

"Bet you won't see the Doctor do that!" Rose told Amy with a grin, as she reached down and pulled the guards' stun wands from their unconscious bodies.

Amy eyed Rose's pink sonic screwdriver. "You have a sonic screwdriver. Where did you get it?" Amy asked.

"This? Oh, it was a gift. We need to tie these two up," Rose told Amy, as she used her shirt to bind one guard's hands up. She removed her bra to tie up the guard's legs. She pulled on her jeans and zipped up her leather coat over her bare chest. Amy grabbed her black tights and pulled off her brazier to tie up the other guard's hands and legs. She quickly put on her denim skirt, shirt and jacket. Rose handed her one of the stun wands.

"We need to find the Doctor and Rory," Amy stated, as she examined the stun wand.

Rose grinned and laughed. "Won't they be surprised!" They locked the cell behind them as the snuck off down the dark corridor. Anytime they heard a noise, they flattened themselves against a wall or ducked around a corner.

"So how are we suppose to find them," Amy demanded, after they'd been walking a bit.

"Well, I'm thinking that they'll probably throw all the foreign blokes together so they'll be with my son, JT. Him and me, we're a bit connected so won't be too long before I find them."

"Connected how? I'm not taking another step until you tell me what's goin' on." Amy stopped, crossed her arms and glared at Rose.

"Oh you are the feisty one aren't you. Bet he loves that! All right. Me and my kids are a bit psychic so I can kind of sense them when they're close."

"So you can feel him close by then?"

"Yeah, a bit. Don't worry, Amy we'll find them and we'll all get out of here," Rose assured her, before grabbing her hand and yanking her down the hall. It wasn't long before they reached a row of cells similar to the one they had been locked in. Rose pulled out her sonic and walked in front of each door staring at each intently. Finally, she reached a door and started to laugh.

"What! What is it? What's so funny?" Amy demanded, now getting irritated at her blonde companion.

"Sorry, it's just they're in here and seem to be havin' a good time." Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Time Lords and their toys." She told Amy, as she aimed her sonic at a control panel. The door slid open and revealed Rose's son and the Doctor admiring each other's sonic screwdriver while Rory stood off to the side scratching his head and staring at them. Rory turned and yelled out to Amy.

"Rory!" Amy shouted, and ran over to him and threw her arms around him and snogged him within an inch of his life.

"Rose!" the Doctor called out. "We meet again under entirely enigmatic and adventurous circumstances. JT and I were just becoming acquainted." he told her, as he held up JT's sonic screwdriver with a grin and a twinkle to his eyes.

"Yeah I can see that."

"Mum, you should see this. He has over two thousand settings! This is a beauty! Just look at the elegance of the design," JT raved, in geeky admiration of the Doctor's sonic. JT was about as tall as the Doctor with short spiky golden brown hair, brown eyes, dressed in trainers, jeans, a light blue polo and wearing a caramel colored hip length leather jacket.

"Oh, but you have an automatic Tardis recall setting and look at this! A levitation modulator! You never know when you might want to levitate something. Magnificent. You must tell me, have you thought of a jellification setting? Indispensable I can tell you," the Doctor told him, exuberantly.

"Blimey, it's sonic envy," Rose muttered.

The Doctor looked up as he was gently caressing the sonic. "No need to be jealous, Rose. Not everyone can enjoy the multiuse goodness that is a sonic screwdriver." JT coughed a bit and returned the Doctor's sonic to him and took his own back. Rose pulled her sonic out and tapped the Doctor on the nose.

He stared at her sonic, "But it's pink. Who would think of a pink sonic screwdriver?" he asked, staring at it as if it was an abomination.

Rose raised an eyebrow and shoved the sonic back in her pocket. The Doctor ambled over to her, smiled and whispered into her ear, "Other me made that for you didn't he. I am brilliant after all, course I would make one for you."

"Yeah, you did. Has lots of settins too. Wanna play with my sonic, Doctor," she whispered back to him smirking.

"Rose Tyler, are you being entenderish with me?" She just grinned at him.

"Hey, you three! If you're done with the sonic admiration, we need to be busting out of here. Still standing in prison, ya know," Amy reminded them.

"Right yes! Prison break that's what we should do. Bust out, jailbreak, making a getaway that's us." The Doctor walked over to the open door, stopped and turned toward Amy. "Wait a minute, Pond how did you escape? They were dragging you off."

"Well, while you boys were back here comparing equipment, Rose and I were actually doing something to escape."

"What do you mean you and Rose were doing something to escape? Doing what and how?" he asked. now glaring a bit at a smirking Rose.

"We used something you don't have," Amy answered him cockily.

"Is that so? Well let me tell you, Amy Pond I have lots of things and stuff, magnificent stuff. I'm practically bursting with things and stuff," he lectured.

Rose walked over and unzipped her leather coat part way and tipped the Doctor's face to stair down at her cleavage. His eyes became large and he stepped back loosening his collar slightly. "Oh, I see."

"See, Doctor, we have assets," Amy informed him, with a sly grin while winking at Rory.

"Assets yes, assets are important. One should always know one's assets," he told them, backing up slightly. He straightened himself and clapped his hands. "Right, time to leave." He walked over to the door and peeked out off to the side. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" he told them and disappeared around a corner.

Rose looked over at JT who shrugged. The four of them followed him out into the corridor. It wasn't long before they ran into some guards and an alarm was sounded. The Doctor reached back and grabbed Rose's hand and led them down several twisting and turning corridors until they reached some double doors which he soniced open. They ran out into what appeared to be a jungle.

"Oh this is so not good," Rory commented while pulling Amy close to him as some animal roared in the distance.

"This shouldn't be here! There are no tropical jungles on Xanthan," the Doctor told them, as he walked over to a tree and ran his hand up the rough brown bark.

"It's worse than we thought," JT told Rose.

The Doctor turned and stalked over to JT and Rose. "So, I don't suppose your being here is a happy coincidence then?" the Doctor asked them.

JT smiled. "Well, we might have been following a temporal displacement signal that seemed to be comin' from this area. They shouldn't have anything like that on this planet during this time period, so thought we might check it out," he explained.

The Doctor was clearly agitated and started stalking around and gesturing with his hands. "You decided to investigate. You're just a young pup with little to no training in correcting time disruptions or displacements. No, no, no you do not just jump willy nilly into something like this."

"Well, someone has to. I'm not gonna stand by and watch the web of time unravel cause I don't know what it is until I get here," JT defended.

"Really, and what would you do if it was a rip in the fabric of space and time. Well!" he practically shouted.

JT smiled but it was deceiving. There was a subtle irritation brewing beneath that smile. The ability to mask his turmoil was definitely evidence of his paternal heritage. "I

imagine I would return to my Tardis, find the cause and mend the rip."

"Mend the rip! As if it's that simple!" the Doctor shouted.

"That's enough both of you!" Rose interjected, standing in between them. "We have a problem here that needs fixin' so let's stop arguin' about whose the most qualified and get it done. JT, you head back to the Tardis and see what you can find out now we know where to look. I'll stay here and keep lookin' for the source and we'll coordinate."

"Amy and Rory, you go with JT. Rose and I will continue on here," the Doctor told Amy and Rory.

"Doctor, I think we should stay with you," Amy argued, not liking the thought of being dismissed.

"I'm sure JT could use a hand," Rose offered.

"Yeah sure, why not," JT said, as he looked at his mother and nodded. He turned to Amy and Rory. "Come along Ponds." After they left, Rose turned to the Doctor and crossed her arms and glared at him.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and scanned for the temporal displacement.

"Doctor, JT is not useless. He's quite capable and this wouldn't be the first temporal displacement or rift he's fixed."

"I never said he was useless and what you mean it's not the first temporal displacement he's fixed? Really Rose, that's my responsibility, my job, my manifesto. Ooo I like that, my manifesto. Sounds grand and important and all Time Lordy."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Right, well let's go track down the dangerous temporal thingy then."

He grinned and grabbed her hand. "So, what exactly have you and the kiddies been up to since we last bumped into each other?"

"Oh, you know this and that. Stop the evil tyrant from takin' over the universe with the all powerful Staff of Arcadia. Fix a rift in time and space here and there. Thumb our noses at the Shadow Proclamation. Whisper in the ear of bloke who might change things for the better on a downtrodden world. You know, the usual," she told him, as they made their way through the dense and humid jungle.

"You've done a good job with them, well, at least the ones I've met. You said last time, you couldn't stay. You going to tell me why."

Rose turned and looked at him and smiled. Suddenly the wind picked up and lightning cracked the sky. The calm jungle was inundated with fierce winds and rain almost like a monsoon had materialized over them. "Temporal distortions can cause abrupt changes to the weather," the Doctor shouted out at her, through the storm. He gripped her hand tightly and struggled to pull her through the storm drenched jungle. Soon, the came upon a rock formation. A gust of wind picked Rose up and slammed her against the rock. She slid down and reached to the side to brace her self and found a gap.

"Doctor!" she screamed. He looked down at her and she pointed to the gap. She crawled to the bushes that were hiding the hole. Although she was nervous about what nasty thing could be hiding in the hole, she knew it was more dangerous outside than in the hole. She crawled in and realized it was more than just a hole, it was a cave. She pulled out her sonic and activated the torch setting. The Doctor crawled in behind her.

"Well that was a bit unexpected. Oh a cave. I love a good old, dark and musty cave. Caves are full of rocks, minerals and stuff."

Rose, dripping wet and chilled to the bone stared at the Doctor. "You like caves. Caves which could have bats, bugs and creepy crawly things that bite."

He grinned and knelt beside her. "Rose Tyler, defender of the multiverse, afraid of bitey things? Really?"

"Guess you've never been bitten before," she told him, amusement glinting in her eyes.

"Actually I was, by my own Tardis."

"Seriously, the Tardis bit you? You must have deserved it," she told him, smirking.

The Doctor's sonic started to pulse. "Pulsing!" he shouted with glee. "We're close to the source. Come on, Rose Tyler! Time to get cracking." The cave was big enough for them to stand up and they made their way deeper into its depths, their way lit by Rose's sonic. The rocky interior soon dipped downward and they could hear water dripping ahead of them. The Doctor stopped.

"It's up ahead of us. I can feel it."

"Yeah, it feels weird, like whispers in the dark," Rose told him. He turned and looked at her.

"Oh Rose, there's more to you then meets the eye. Funny saying that. It's not like anything walks up and introduces itself to your eye, well unless you're an Atraxi."

"Doctor," Rose whispered back to him. He put his finger on her lips.

"Later and there will be a later. First, we have to find the mysterious cause of this time distortion." He tugged on her hand and they walk toward a dark pit.

"Lovely, a dark temporally ambiguous pit."

"Oh I hate havin' to jump into a dark temporally weird pit. It never ends well," Rose complained, shaking her head.

"Oh, come now Rose Tyler. You're with me."

"Yeah, that's why I'm worried. You and me don't have the best of luck with dark and dangerous pits," she answered him, while kicking a small stone into the darkness.

"Oh please. What's the worst that could happen. Wait, don't answer that. Just trust me and go with it. Right, Geronimo!" he told Rose, pulling her with him as he jumped into the pit. Luckily it wasn't that deep and they landed in some soft sand with Rose on top of the Doctor. Rose who was straddling him looked into his startled eyes and smiled wickedly at him. "A girl could get used to landings like this," she told him and leaned down for a long snog. He flipped her over so he was on top of her.

"My landings are always perfect. Course, I prefer them more this way." Right as things were about to get interesting for Rose, his sonic started to shine brightly and beep. He reached down, pulled it out concentrating on it and looking off to one side. Rose turned her head and saw what captured his attention. There was something metallic protruding from the rocky wall.

"Hello gorgeous," the Doctor said, as he stood up and walked over to it, completely oblivious of Rose.

"Right, snogging always takes a backseat to the dangerous temporal thingy," she muttered, as she stood up and brushed herself off. She walked over to where the Doctor was examining the silver metal which looked like a silver toaster sticking out of the rock. Rose lifted up her sonic to scan it but the Doctor shouted at her to stop.

"Don't. You might trigger it."

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"It's a bit of the Time War buried in the rock. It's old and dangerous and my responsibility."

"Right. So it's been here for a long time. What triggered it and how do we stop it?"

He turned toward her. "The dampening field surrounding it deteriorated and a simple geologic event applied enough pressure to begin triggering it. It's been slowly building up power and it's not done. We need to re-establish the temporal dampening field and remove it."

"JT can't dematerialize down here. It's too unstable," Rose told him.

"No, but no worries. We've got everything we need right here," he told her, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

"Right, we're just wingin' it aren't we?"

"Of course, that's where the fun is. So, got anything good in your pockets?"

"Typical Time Lord, just wants to get into in my pockets," she answered him with a grin, while reaching into her dimensionally transcendental pockets and pulling out various items.

"Ooo is that Takean Cube?"

"Yeah, is it helpful?"

"No, but it's great fun. I'll save this for later!" Rose rolled her eyes. His personality might change a bit when he regenerates but he's still the same Time Lord.

"What about this?" Rose asked as she pulled out a round clear crystal ball the size of an orange. JT told me it has the qualities of something in flux or stuck in time."

The Doctor slowly took it out of her hand and held it up to his sonic. "Clever girl you are. Right, this is going to take two of us and tons of concentration. Let me see your sonic. I'm going to have to add a new setting so that we can coordinate and tie into this lovely little piece of frozen time." Rose handed over her sonic and after a bit of jiggery pokery on his part not to mention a few endearing words he said to it, it was done. They held the frozen time between them as they aimed their sonics at the leaking time device and within a few minutes the atmosphere around them changed and time started to flow normally. The Doctor took the frozen time which was now tinged light yellow and tossed it up in the air a few times. "See easy," he told Rose. and snapped his fingers.

Soon a Tardis dematerialized in front of them in the form of a red police box. Rory stepped out and looked at them.

"Everything all right out here? Rory asked. JT followed him with what appeared to be a small alarm clock which he set on top of the metal time box. The Doctor walked up and poked at it.

JT called back to Amy in the Tardis. "Ready Amy?"

The Doctor looked up. "Wait just a minute. What do you have Amy doing?"

JT grinned. "Pressing the big threatening red button. She was a bit insistent on helping. Don't worry. It's perfectly safe." He turned to Rose. "Mum, could you do your thing?"

Rose stepped away from them held out her arm, closed her eyes and snapped her fingers. A few minutes later, another Tardis dematerialized.

"Wait, that's my Tardis!" the Doctor exclaimed and looked at Rose with wonder and curiosity. "How did you do that?"

Rose shrugged. "I just sort of invited her. We girls have to stick together ya know. Besides, we needed both Tardis here to help keep everythin' stable. "

"You don't just go calling a Time Lord's Tardis. It's just not done. I mean she doesn't just dematerialize when I snap my fingers," he complained.

Rose smiled. "Oh, well maybe you don't ask her nicely. Then again, you are a Time Lord so I imagine it's a bit different. She and I, well, we have an understandin."

Rory smiled and walked up to Rose. "I knew I liked you." He turned toward JT's Tardis. "Hey Amy! You've got to see this!"

Amy popped her head out. "What?" She turned and saw the Doctor's Tardis. "Is that our Tardis? How'd she get here? Doctor, did you take off without us?" she asked the Doctor, her eyes narrowing a bit.

"What? Who me? No, Rose did it and still needs to explain how."

Amy turned toward Rose and crossed her arms.

"Rory, why don't you and Amy get ready to activate this thing. We really shouldn't wait any longer." JT told them and trying to defuse the situation. Rory pulled Amy back into JT's Tardis. The Doctor stared at Rose with a speculative look and then went over to oversee JT's removal plan. JT and the Doctor argued briefly and then the Doctor exclaimed "Oh yes, perfect!"

JT shouted for Amy and Rory to "hit it," there was a flash of light and the dangerous time box was gone. "Well done!" the Doctor shouted and slapped JT on the back. JT grinned and embraced him. A rumbling sound echoed in the underground cavern.

"Ah yes, destabilization when we removed it," the Doctor told them. Amy and Rory came out to see what was happening. Dust and rocks were beginning to tumble down.

"I think it's time to make our exit. It was good getting' to know ya. See ya around!" JT told them, and winked at Amy as he walked back into his Tardis.

Rose walked up to the Doctor. "So, scary time thing removed, the planet can go back to normal. All in all a happy ending and everyone lives."

"Is it? A happy ending I mean," the Doctor asked Rose. She stared into his eyes as if she was trying to find something. She grabbed him by the braces and dragged him into an all out snog. He wrapped his arms around her with no hesitation and squeezed her tightly to him as if to imprint her on his body. A bolder crashed down next to them. Rose pulled away.

"Guess we better get going," she whispered and gently caressed his face. "Be seein' you around," she told him softly almost unable to look away from his eyes. Finally as the ground rumbled once more she turned to the Ponds.

"Take care of the boys, Amy. Don't let 'em forget whose in charge." She shared a knowing grin with Amy and turned once more to the Doctor. She mouthed the words "I love you" while staring into his eyes and backing into JT's Tardis.

The Doctor took a deep breath and looked over at Amy and Rory as the new Tardis dematerialized.

"Right, well no time better to leave than at the cusp of earthquake which reminds me, have I taken you to San Francisco yet? Lovely town on bay, at least until the great quake of the 22nd Century. Now that was exciting and so improbable. No seismic activity should have caused it and yet it happened. Let's find out why shall we?" he told Amy and Rory, as he bounded into the Tardis. Amy and Rory followed behind him slowly.

"Will he be all right?" Rory asked Amy, staring thoughtfully at the Tardis.

"He's the Doctor, he's always all right." Amy told him, but not quite believing it.


	3. Let's Party Like it's 1989

a/n: Eleven, Amy and Rory meet Rose's daughter while investigating strange happenings at a party in the Hollywood Hills. Special guest appearance by the Smurfs.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or the Smurfs

**Let's Party Like it's 1989**

Rory wandered about the halls of the massive mansion in the Hollywood Hills belonging to some outrageous 80's rock star he had never heard of and who was throwing the party of the year. Eighties pop music practically vibrated the walls as he searched for the Doctor and Amy who had sprinted off chasing some signal indicating there were some alien creatures mucking about the house. Of course, they neglected to inform him and just took off like they always did. Rory sighed as he continued walking down the maze of halls passing several young women dressed as harem girls, Xena Warrior Princess and Madonna, all of who flirted outrageously with him and admired his Roman Centurion costume. He smiled and chatted politely with them while trying to get away so he could continue his search for the Doctor and Amy.

He heard something banging in a room up ahead and decided to check it out. He opened the door to the dimly lit room which appeared to be a library. The room was filled floor to ceiling with books and furnished with typical 80s style furniture of black chrome and glass tables with a black leather couch and clear lucite chairs with splashes of teal pillows. He stepped in and looked around when something small and blue whizzed by him, startling him. He took another step into the room when the door clicked shut. He quickly turned only to have his arm grabbed by a tall, lithe, black leather clad, blue eyed woman.

"Watch it pretty boy!" the blue-eyed woman warned Rory.

"Excuse me?" Rory exclaimed, pulling his arm out of her grasp and staring at her. She was wearing black boots, tight black jeans a black corset over a bright purple silk blouse with a tight black leather jacket. She had shoulder length straight black hair and eyes that were a startlingly icy blue.

"You're about to step on 'em. Mind your feet, Spartacus!" she told him roughly, with a slight Northern accent.

"Sorry, but who are you exactly and my name's not Spartacus. It's Rory, Rory Williams and what am I trying not to step on?" Rory asked, as he looked down at his feet.

The woman sighed and muttered about humans and their tiny little brains. She looked at him and crossed her arms. "Look, this house is crawling with alien life forms on the run from something bad that you couldn't possibly understand. Do yourself a favor and get your Roman arse back to the party and forget about this and me."

Rory looked at her and sighed. "Look, whoever you are, I know a lot more about aliens than I want. I travel with one if you need to know and he's run off with my wife somewhere in this house. Knowing them, they're probably in the middle of all of this alien stuff. So, we might as well work together. Now, what do I call you?"

She stared at him for a few moments, sighed, paced a few steps and glared at him. "You're not from this time period are you?"

"Well, not exactly no. Why?" Rory asked, now looking at her suspiciously.

"Oh of course you're not," she practically moaned. "Wait a minute. You said Rory didn't you?"

"Yeah, that would be me."

"This is just bloody fantastic. You have wife named Amy, right?"

"How'd you know that?" Rory asked, even more suspicious of her.

"That means your travelin with the Doctor and he's probably blonding about mucking everything up." She told him, looking unhappy.

"Well, I don't know about that except for maybe the wandering around part. He does do a lot of that. Are they in danger?"

"Well of course they're in danger! Don't be stupid!" the raven haired woman practically shouted at him.

"Sorry! You know, you never told me your name." Rory mentioned, now getting a bit irritated.

She sighed and glared at him. "Oh just call me Tori."

"Right, well nice to me you Tori, at least I think it is," he told her, a bit unsure.

"Come on. Let's pick up the refugees and be on our way," She told him, pulling out a black shoulder bag and kneeling on the floor. Rory watched in fascination as several small blue creatures in white pants with white hats scampered up to her and ran into the bag which she picked up and put over her shoulder. She pulled out a sonic screwdriver and scanned the room. "Right, we're done here, let's move out," she told him, and turned and opened the door to leave. He stood in the room stunned and bent over looking under a table.

"You gonna stand around all day gapin' or you comin' with me?" she asked, sarcastically.

He stood up and turned to her. "That's a sonic screwdriver."

"Yeah, that a problem?"

"Uh No. Just been seeing more and more people with those lately. Look you're heading toward the Doctor aren't you?

"What you think Roranicus?"

"Don't call me that. It's Rory and if that's where you're goin, then I'm comin' with you."

"Now that we have that solved, stop standin' around gawkin' and move," Tori told him, and left the room assuming he would follow. Rory looked up at the ceiling "Just once, I'd like to run into one of the normal ones." He ran to catch up to Tori who stopped suddenly, reached out and pushed him against the wall of the hallway. There was an explosion and a vortex of white light formed at the end of the hall they had just passed. A cloaked figure in black followed by a bright orange tabby cat raced by and dove into the vortex which imploded and disappeared.

"What the hell was that!" Rory demanded. Before Tori could answer, Rose ran around the corner, dressed in her standard jeans, purple jumper and black leather jacket.

"Oh Rory, hi. Don't suppose you saw a bloke dressed all in black with this weird orange cat?"

"Uh yeah he disappeared," Rory answered, pointing down the hall where the vortex had been. Rose grinned.

"Nice costume!" she complimented him, lookin' him up and down. Tori rolled her eyes and whipped out her sonic.

"Whoever or whatever it was jumped into a transdimensional rift. A bit handy that," Tori explained.

"Yeah well, I sort of interrupted him from his evil plan. You know how it goes, he's all Mr. Evil Megalomaniac, I will eat the cute little blue creatures and gain enormous power and take over the universe. You know, yadda yadda yadda," she told them, waving her hand in the air. "Honestly, I sort of drifted off after that. Heard one megalomaniac's evil plan, heard them all. Gets a bit boring. So Rory, what are you up to?" Rose asked, arms crossed and smiling.

Rory just stared at first. "Oi Roranicus you in there?" Tori asked, thumping him lightly on the head.

"Stop that!" he retorted.

"Yes, I'm looking for Amy and the Doctor. They ran off from the party earlier, probably getting into trouble with whatever you're looking for," Rory answered, a bit cranky.

Rose laughed. "You telling' me they wandered off? That's too good!"

"Look, can we just find Amy? I have a bad feeling about this."

"Sorry Rory, of course," Rose answered, still grinning. "Come on. I think I know where to start," she told him, and then turned to Tori. "You finished gathering up all our little friends, Tori?"

"Almost. Still a few about I imagine."

"Why don't you finish hunting them down and then catch up to Rory and I," Rose asked her. Tori grunted an affirmative and took off in another direction. Rose turned to Rory and waived him to come along with her. He walked beside her as she took him down a hallway to some stairs and they started heading down a narrow winding staircase.

"So, that's your daughter?" Rory said, to break the silence.

"Yep."

"She's a bit…"

Rose smiled. "Abrupt, tactless, rude," she ticked off.

"Yeah, that would be about it. But, your so nice and mostly normal," he told her, as they descended.

"Why thank you, Rory! You're quite sweet you know. Amy's a lucky girl."

Rory snorted. "Yeah, that's why she calls me stupid face and takes off with the Doctor without me."

Rose paused and turned to him. "Rory, she does love you, very deeply as a matter of fact. Travelin' with the Doctor, you two see amazing things, some good some horrible. All of it though, it sort of pales to what you two have. She knows that deep down even if she doesn't show it often. She's tough and brave. You both are. I think you know that. Travelin' with the Doctor, it can bring out the best in you."

She turned and started back down the stairs. Rory followed, his leather roman uniform squeaking as he raced to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm to stop her. "And you, what about you? You care about the Doctor and yet, you stay away. Why is that? I wouldn't let anything keep me from Amy."

Rose smiled sadly at him and blinked. "You waited two thousand years for her once. Was it worth the waitin?"

"I'd have waited two thousand more if I had to," he answered.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Some things are worth waiting for, Rory. There's an old Earth song about that you know. Everything has a Season by the Byrds. That's the way its got to be for me and the Doctor." Rose told him, as a rumbling noise shook the walls.

They turned and looked at each other and said simultaneously, "The Doctor" and ran the rest of the way down the stairs until they reached the basement. When they entered what appeared to be a finished and furnished basement, little blue creatures were scampering across the floor. Rose grabbed Rory's arm.

"Don't step on the Smurfs," she told him, as she watched the Smurfs running for cover.

"Sorry, did you say Smurfs? As in the cartoon?"

"Yeah, that's right. Didn't you see 'em with Tori?"

"Well yeah, sort of but she didn't call them Smurfs," Rory told her, as he stared at a little blonde haired Smurf in a dress who ran up to Rose.

"Rose, you have to help us! The Doctor smurfed Garagamel's evil potion, but something went wrong! Papa Smurf said his spell isn't enough to smurf us back home."

Rose knelt down. "Well, we can't have that can we," Rose told her, and scooped her up and gently deposited her into her coat pocket while Rory stared in amazement.

"Smurfs. We're saving Smurfs. Right," he murmured in disbelief.

The Doctor and Amy raced out. "Ah Rory, there you are! What took you so long?" the Doctor told Rory, and then he turned and looked at Rose as Rory ran up to Amy and hugged her.

"Rose Tyler, good of you to join us. Don't suppose you've seen a wizard skulking about?"

"You mean Gargamel?" she asked with a smile

"Oooo that's the one!"

"Don't forget the cat," Amy reminded him, and smiled and greeted Rose, "Hi Rose."

"Right, he had a bit of nasty feline with him as well," the Doctor mentioned.

"Amy!" Rose greeted with a wave and then turned to the Doctor. "Yep, may have had a bit of run in. He's a bit of nutter. I may have soniced a nasty looking vial in his hand and he sort of flew off."

"Fly? Really?" He turned to Amy. "See told you these parties were wild. Now then, we have Smurfs running about, flying wizards, a feline with an attitude and oh yes, ghastly 80s furnishings," he told them picking up a mirrored obelisk statute.

"Well, actually Doctor, the wizard and cat sort of disappeared in a flash of light," Rory explained.

"A flash of light? What sort of flash of light. Like strobing, disco ball light or an explosion type thingy?"

"Actually, it was a transdimensional rift. It's closed now," Tori answered, walking into the room and staring at the Doctor.

The Doctor walked up to her and soniced her.

"Oi! Put that thing away!" she yelled at him, and knocked his hand down.

"Did you just assault my sonic!" he demanded, cradling his sonic against his tweed coat.

"What of it. You shouldn't be pointing it at people now should ya?" Tori told him, glaring. She then turned to her mother.

"This him then. He doesn't look so smart to me. More like Smithers from the Simpsons."

"That's enough! Now you see here young lady, I'm the Doctor and you are but a child compared to me. I'll have you know…." He paused and looked at Tori's bag. A song was coming from it. "la la lalalala la lalalalaaaa" "What is that?" the Doctor asked, peering at the bag with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.

Tori rolled her eyes "What do ya think it is! They're singin' They're Smurfs. That's what they do. Now come on, we have to find the rest and get em home. No use lollyin' around," she said gruffly, and pulled her sonic out and squatted down obviously looking for more Smurfs. The Doctor stepped back watching her and then looked over at Rose.

"I take it that she's well, yours?"

"Yep. She's my daughter," Rose told him grinning.

"Ah. Well she's certainly all.. That is she's sort of well.." he told Rose, making awkward hand gestures. "Time Lord genetics always were a bit wonky," he said, thumping his sonic against his head.

"Doctor, remember what happened on Ulix 4 when you accidentally soniced your head and your face froze in that dorky grin until Rory and I fixed you?" Amy reminded him.

The Doctor stopped in mid tap and brought the sonic around to his face and stared at it and then turned to Rose. He walked over and hugged her picking her up and twirling about. "Good to see you Rose Tyler. So, you're here to help the Smurfs or did you just pop by for a bit of 80's style break dancing, maybe a moonwalk or a bit of slam dancing," he asked, as he gyrated in jerky motions. Amy and Rory just stood off to the side shaking their heads in horror.

Rose giggled. "Naw, got a weird reading and came by to investigate and ran into Smurfette and Gusty Smurf. They went off to find Papa Smurf while Tori and I went to try and find that evil Gargamel bloke."

"Satisfying the rabid curiosity eh?" he asked, with a grin. "Well then let's get cracking!" he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her toward the stairs. "Come along Ponds! There's more to this transdimensional rift than a smurf obsessed wizard."

As they made their way down the hall, Papa Smurf crawled out of the Doctor's pocket and made his way up to his shoulder. "Ah Papa, good of you to join us!"

"Doctor, after examining the residue of Gargamel's potion on the glass globe you neutralized, I found residue of foxilian spurate."

The Doctor stopped abruptly yanking Rose back to him. "What! Not possible! It doesn't even exist on your world."

"That may be, but he used it in his potion to create the gateway to this world."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and scanned all around spinning in place. Rose ducked just in time to miss getting hit in the face. "Doctor what is it?" she asked.

He put the sonic away snapped and pointed down the hall. "Something here doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick." He grabbed Rose's hand again and dashed off down the hall followed by Tori, Rory and Amy. As they were running Rose asked him, "You got a plan?"

"Oh you know me, I have a thing. It's like a plan, but with more greyness"

Rose grinned. When they reached the main part of the house, the party was in full swing and "Rock The Casbah" was playing. There were lights flashing in beat with the music and disco balls splashing flashes of light against the walls. The Doctor stared at them and then back at Rose and smiled. "Come on Tyler! Let's boogey!" He yanked her onto the dance floor until they were in the middle of the room surrounded by an assortment of costumed people gyrating to "You Spin Me Round." Rose giggled and lifted her arms swinging her head and hips a bit to the music as the Doctor contorted and moved in what Rose could only describe as a slitheen having a seizure. The music soon changed to Journey's "Open Arms" and the Doctor grabbed her and pulled her tight against him and looked down into her eyes as the music played "So here I am with open in arms…" She ran one of her hands through hair on the back of his head and he closed his eyes. Suddenly, it was like time stopped and they were the only ones in the room. He opened his eyes and hesitantly leaned forward and whispered against her lips. "Tell me. All this dancing about, when does it stop?"

She whispered back, "Never. The dancin' just changes a bit, gets more interesting, sometimes intense and sometimes slow and intimate."

They leaned into the kiss and lost themselves in each other letting the universe care for itself. That is, until the explosions rocked the room and the music stopped. They immediately parted and looked toward the stage where an evil wizard and his equally evil orange cat were laughing maniacally and zapping musicians with some sort of electric charge. The dark haired wizard dressed all in black walked up to the microphone.

"Oh what an evil genius I am! Look at you all with your disgusting dancing and music. You are nothing compared to me! You will do as I, Gargamel the Great, command or I will turn you all into mold spores!"

"Mold spores? How uninventive. Really, couldn't he at least have picked something grander or exotic." the Doctor told Rose, fascinated by how the people around them were responding to Gargamel.

"Tell me about it. You should of heard him earlier," Rose told him, rolling her eyes.

One of the party goers shouted out, "Dude, chill out. Look we feel your pain man, but if you're lookin for some intense partying, try the back room with Jilly. She'll set you up."

"Foolish peasant!" Gargamel shouted, before whipping out his wand and aiming it at the poor young man dressed in a toga. Poof. The man turned into a pile of green mold.

The Doctor and Rose made their way to the stage as people in the crowd screamed and started backing away.

"Right, so you're an evil wizard intending on taking over the world so where do you go first? A party in the Hollywood Hills. Yes, that makes sense so how can we help you?" the Doctor asked.

"You will bring me those rotten, disgusting Smurfs. I know they're here." he told the Doctor, and turned to Rose. "You! They were with you." he said, pointing his wand at Rose.

The Doctor's eyes darkened. "Oh I wouldn't do that."

Gargamel scoffed. "Who are you? You're not even armed."

"Oh but I am."

"With what, a silly bow tie? Or, perhaps you think some useless blonde peasant is going to protect you." Gargamel snarked back at him, indicating Rose who was getting a bit indignant at this point.

"First, bow ties are cool! Oh and as for being armed well, There's always this," the Doctor responded, holding up a bag of marbles. "And, a screwdriver. I do believe I'm absolutely sorted."

Gargamel laughed. Papa Smurf reappeared on the Doctor's shoulder holding a vial of some liquid. The Doctor pulled out his sonic and aimed it at one of the disco balls which he realized were really amplifiers of dimensional energy. Rose did the same as did Tori.

"Ponds, I think it's time for Doctor's Mix Number 5." Amy smiled and pulled out her ipod and Rory pulled out his iphone. The Doctor nodded and they hit play as the Doctor, Rose and Tori began sonicing the disco balls. Gargamel shouted out "Nooooo" as fractures of light criss crossed the room in response to the sonics and the amplified guitar music sounding from the Ponds devices. The bottle of potion that Papa Smurf was holding began to glow purple and white sparkles began floating around it. The evil cat, Azrael leapt toward the Doctor. Tori pulled out a rubber ball and bounced it off a wall and watched as it bounced across the room and smacked Azrael in the head, knocking the evil kitty to the floor. Soon Gargamel and Azrael began to fade.

Gargamel shouted out, "I'll get you, you rotten Smurfs, if it's the last thing I ever do!" The room was soon clear of frightened party goers who fled through any door, window or opening they could find until it was just, The Doctor, Rose, Amy, Rory, Tori and the Smurfs. The Doctor walked across the room, dumped out the marbles and manipulated the energy arcing off of the disco balls focusing them on the marbles and Papa Smurf tossed his sparkling potion in the middle. A sparkling purple vortex was created in the middle of the room. The Doctor gently set down Papa Smurf and shook his little hand. Rose knelt down and brought over Smurfette and Tori set down her bag filled with the rest of the Smurfs. The Smurfs ran into the vortex except for Smurfette and Papa. Smurfette turned to the Doctor.

"Thank you, Doctor. You're the smurfiest!" she told him, and batted her eyelashes at him and then ran over to Rose. "Don't wait too long to smurf that one. He's a keeper!" Smurfette told her, and ran back to Papa Smurf.

Papa Smurf told them, "Farewell my friends and thank you." He took Smurfette's hand and they walked into the vortex and it disappeared.

Amy walked over to the Doctor. "But Doctor, what happened to Gargamel? Is he back in the Smurf's world?"

"Don't worry, Pond. The Smurfs are quite spiffy at besting the wizard."

"But it doesn't seem right for them to have to constantly run and hide."

The Doctor noticed Rose and Tori beginning back away from them.

"Hold on! Where are you two off to?" he asked, walking toward them.

"We can't be lollying around here. Things to do, places to go, people to help. That's us." Tori told him gruffly, but with a slight smile cracking her face and blue eyes sparkling with mischief. Rose looked at him. "She's right. We were sort of on our way somewhere. This was a bit of side trip for us."

Tori scoffed. "What she means is my useless, pretty boy brother went and blonded off into trouble. He's in the gaol for doing something he shouldn't have, so of course we have to bust him out."

"Tori," Rose cautioned her.

"Really, well you know jailbreaks are my specialty. You might say I'm the authority at extraction, the expert of escape, and the liberator of the locked up."

Rose smiled. "Thanks Doctor, but I think we've got this one covered." she walked over and cupped his face and pressed her lips to his. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and snogged her thoroughly letting her go only when he sensed her need to breathe. She stepped back gasping a bit. She looked at him with a flushed face and an amused glint in her eye. "Oh that was….yeah, I just better be uh going. I'll be seein' you soon," she told him, backing away toward their Tardis which was masquerading as a grandfather clock. "Try not to blow up the universe, yeah."

Amy and Rory walked up to him hand in hand.

"Doctor?"

He smiled. "Well Ponds, if you thought this was an interesting party wait I take you to a 25th century winter equinox ball. It was the revival of the Viennese waltz and all the young people were going retro with long formal gowns and Lawrence Welk impersonators. Wild times I tell you," he told them, as he bounded out toward the garden and back to the Tardis followed closely behind by Rory and Amy.

Amy shook her head as they headed back to the Tardis. "I don't get it. What's she waiting for?"

Rory smiled as he looked at Amy. "Some things are worth waiting for," he told her, and squeezed her hand. She smiled and leaned over and kissed him before dragging him back aboard the amazing blue box.


	4. In The Darkness I Still Have You

a/n: WARNING: Character death (No not Eleven or Rose) But, it's a character you will recognize. This was written for isilienelenihin who left a prompt on LJ at doctor_rose_fix. She wanted an AU of The God Complex with Eleven/Immortal Rose and Amy/Rory.**  
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This is the fourth installment in my Eleventh Doctor series and answers some of the questions people have been asking me regarding what happened to TenII and when will Rose stay with the Doctor. Sorry it took so long to update this series but I was a bit stuck until I saw this prompt and then it just clicked. Also, this has alot more angst than I normally write but it has a happy ending.**  
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**In The Darkness I Still Have You**

The Doctor was racing down the hall of the faux 1980s hotel, his boots barely making a sound on the garishly printed red and gold carpet when he heard voices whisper, "Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him." He stopped as an overwhelming compulsion to open one of the doors consumed him. As he looked around, his eyes settled on a yellow door labeled with a number "11." "There you are; just waiting," he whispered.

Almost like some invisible force was pulling at him, he walked slowly toward the door, pausing to think of what lay beyond this threshold. Those imprisoned in this place had all described the horrors they encountered behind each and every door. Poor Joe, who he had first encountered after arriving here. He had said there was a room for everyone even the Doctor.

The Doctor opened the door, gazed inside the room and stepped in allowing the door to click shut behind him.

Rose Tyler had been enjoying lunch at a little outdoor café on the planet Rizzif after she and her son, Jack, had investigated an odd variation in the flow of time around this world. They had found an ancient looking decayed device with Gallifreyan symbols sitting in a museum. The curator seemed to think it was artifact from his planet's prehistoric era, but Rose knew better. It was some damaged remnant from the Time War that some how survived and landed on this planet millennia ago. It was causing a minor temporal variation. Of course, for she and her children, it was easily remedied. Rose distracted the curator while Jack deactivated the device and completed a thorough scan of it to upload to the database of such discoveries in their Tardis.

Afterward, they decided to spend a little down time exploring the tropical world and enjoying some of the unique cuisine. Jack, who in many ways was so much like his father, was easily intrigued and distracted by anything shiny or new and had wandered off to join a crowd in a park across the way to watch this world's version of street performers. The technology on this planet was based on coconuts. It made Rose smile when she found out that coconuts and any derivatives from them was a part of daily life here. Jack was greatly amused at how even their transports were shaped like and made of coconut products.

While he went to view the entertainment, she sat back enjoying her coconut and banana daiquiri and contemplated their next destination. When she felt herself transmatted to a strange Earth hotel that judging by the tasteless decorations and annoying music, was from some time in the 1980s, she was not surprised. Stranger things had happened to her after all and she was always up for a new adventure. This, unfortunately, was a bit disappointing at first as it seemed rather boring with no people about. Little did she know as she began walking through the hotel and exploring the various rooms, that this was not some simple jaunt in a retro hotel.

The Doctor heard the door shut, but was not the least bit concerned. His eyes were fixated on Rose Tyler standing in a corner of the room trembling and whispering "No" over and over again. Her eyes were filled with terror and her arms wrapped around herself. She didn't look much different from the last time he'd seen her, still dressed in her standard jeans, purple shirt and black leather coat.

"Rose Tyler," he said, both delighted and horrified to find her here. Suddenly, he snapped out of his delight at running into her and spun around looking about the room. These rooms did not tend to be nice places and he was waiting for some horror to jump out at him. That's about the time it hit him. The horror was Rose being here. He walked over to her.

"Rose." There was no response. "Rose, look at me. Forget about whatever nasty thing you think you see. It's not real," he said, staring at her. Still she did not respond.

"Ohhhkkkaaay. So, you're caught up in our friendly Minotaur's tower of terror," he said as he looked around the room for something to help him. He was afraid to just grab her, but finally decided he had no choice. The second he touched her arm, the room warped around him.

"Well look at this," he murmured as he examined the room he now found himself in which was nothing even remotely similar to a hotel room. It looked like some type of laboratory and Rose was pounding her fists against some plexiglas window looking into another room. She seemed unaware that he was there. The Doctor walked over to her and looked through the window. Inside was his meta crisis, working madly on some type of device. He had aged. His hair was white, his face lined and he seemed a bit stooped. A cane was propped against a chair near him. He still wore a pinstripe suit and trainers. He looked up once at Rose, his eyes still intelligent but filled with sadness.

"No, you can't!" Rose screamed, tears falling down her face. "Doctor, please! We'll find another way to stop this!"

The Meta crisis soniced something and looked at Rose. "I'm sorry, love. There's no other way."

"No!" Rose wept, shaking her head, her horror and distress rolling off of her in waves.

The Doctor looked on filled with a deep sadness, his brow furrowing and his eyes conveying the heavy weight of his responsibility as he watched Rose crumble before him.

Rose looked as young as the day he left them both on Bad Wolf Bay while his meta crisis brother had aged. A deep guilt overcame him. He had done this, left her to suffer what he couldn't bear to face. He looked at Rose and once again acknowledged how much braver she was than him. She stayed and loved his brother with all her heart. Even now, faced with such heart breaking loss, she fought for his brother knowing that even if he survived this, she would still have to watch him wither and die before her eyes.

The meta crises flipped some switches and some alarms began sounding in the stark white room in which he stood. He paused and looked up at Rose. "I wouldn't have traded my time with you and the children for all of space and time. You gave me my best life, Rose Tyler, the one adventure I thought I could never have," he said with emotion. "Promise me you'll live. Live for me, my Rose."

Rose wept uncontrollably, her face pressed against the window. "How can I without you?" Her hands were almost clawing at the window.

The meta crises smiled. "Because you're so full of life and our children need you. The Universe needs you and….other me, he needs you too. Please, please, please, promise me you'll live Rose. I need to know that."

Rose looked at him, her eyes filled with sorrow and emotions remembering their life together and every precious moment the good and the bad. The Doctor could see these same memories reflected in the eyes of the meta crises. This was killing him, watching her like this, so distraught and broken. He wanted to turn away and run, but he couldn't. He had to watch for her.

The Doctor looked back at the meta crises who smiled a brilliant smile at Rose. "Remember, I will always love you."

He winked at Rose threw some switches and a bright light filled the room. A shockwave threw them both down and when they crawled up, the light had dissipated and the meta crisis Doctor was gone. Rose dropped to her knees screaming and crying. The Doctor stared at her, at a loss for what to do as she curled herself into a ball whispering. "They're gone! They're all gone, my babies, my Doctor. So alone!" she whispered, rocking back and forth. The Doctor dropped before her and grabbed her shoulders.

"No! You are not alone! I'm here, Rose."

She didn't respond. "Rose Tyler! You snap out of it this instant or I'llll…." he stuttered looking around, his arms flailing while he tried to find the right words. Suddenly, he turned back to her "Or no fish fingers and custard for you!" he shouted, looking a bit unsure about what he said.

Rose looked up at him. "Fish fingers and custard?" she asked in a soft unsure and questioning voice.

He smiled at her in response. "That's it. Come on! Wakey wakey back to face Mr. Minotaur!"

"Doctor," she whispered, almost disbelieving he was actually there and threw herself at him. He captured her in his arms and squeezed.

"That's my girl!" He pulled back. "Now then, you know where you are?"

"Creepy badly decorated Earth hotel, every room has a bad memory or scary whatever in it."

"Not bad, Tyler!" He stood up and held his hand out for her. She grabbed it and he pulled her up. They were back in the hotel room but when they turned to face the door, someone was waiting for them.

The Doctor went still and his face froze. He stared at his mirror image dressed all in black leaning casually against the door, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Doctor?" Rose asked tentatively, looking from the Doctor dressed in a black suit to her bow tie wearing Doctor.

"Right, I was expecting you," the proper Doctor said slowly.

The Doctor in black smirked and walked slowly toward them. The room disappeared and they were on the Tardis, only it wasn't the proper Doctor's Tardis. This one was dim, shadowed and with a gray cast to everything. The time rotor glowed red instead of it's typical green. Rose looked around and knew it wasn't real. She turned back to the Doctor in black who was walking around the console, running his hands over the knobs and switches.

He turned to the proper Doctor. "Well Doctor, you do know what this is about?"

The proper Doctor watched and followed him slowly. "Oh, you'd like for me to answer that wouldn't you Let's see, we're playing let's psycho analyze the Doctor today I'll bet. It'll only take oh a few millennia."

"Oh, don't be pathetic old me. Pathetic is boring," the Doctor in black snarked back. "Still trying to save them all and wearing…. bad fashion. Still, at least you lost the fez."

The proper Doctor looked offended and straightened his bow tie. "I have impeccable fashion, cutting edge and cool!" he responded, holding out his leg and showing off a boot clad foot as example. "And, don't knock the fez. Fezzes are cool."

Rose looked at him and then at the fez that had appeared on the console. She muttered, "Fez, right."

"But, this isn't about fezzes is it Doctor?" The Doctor in black mocked. "This is about controlling all of time and space, having it all bow down before us. Being a God!" the dark Doctor pronounced and held is arms out with a mad grin on his face.

Rose started to get a bad feeling about where this was going and the look on the proper Doctor's face did nothing to alleviate the fear coursing through her.

"Oh Stop it!" the proper Doctor ordered.

"Stop it? Oh pish posh, I'm just getting started. He said spinning around the console, dancing to the beat of his own madness.

A dark look emerged on the proper Doctor's face. This was a deep rooted fear and one that he had seen before. The manifestation of all the darkness residing inside of him all wrapped up in a twisted and dark image of this him full of madness and power. A Time Lord gone mad with no rules, no conscious and no one to stop him.

The Doctor in black smiled. "Now there's a look I recognise! Oh, but we don't show that to the little companions now do we. No, we have to play nice with the little fragile life forms. After all, how could they with their mayfly lives understand us, what we are and what we are capable of. Oh, they think they do in their pathetic attempts to analyze and make us better. In the end, what do they do? Leave and go back to their miserable domestic lives and we go on. What did they call us at the Pandorica? Oh yesss! A trickster, or a warrior, a nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. I rather like that last bit."

Rose watched the proper Doctor pale, his shoulders slumped and his eyes seem to sink with the weight of the Doctor in black's accusations and horrific pronouncements. The cloister bells began tolling.

The Doctor in black closed his eyes as if pleased. "Ahhh, now that is music to my ears. The melody of the destruction of the universe." He opened his eyes and stared darkly at the Doctor. "You know what they say, out with the old and in with the new. Especially when I'm the one remaking it!" he said, clapping and rubbing his hands together as he began dancing around the console, the lights darkening and glowing mauve, the universal color for danger.

Rose had heard and seen enough. She gripped the Doctor's hand and called out to him. He didn't respond at first, just stared at the dark version of himself dancing about the console. Finally, Rose reached out and pinched him hard.

"Ow!" he yelped and jumped back away from her in a tangle of limbs, rubbing the spot she had pinched him.

"That hurt!"

"Good, it was s'pose to. Now can we please get out of here and do somethin' about this place. I think we've both had enough, yeah?"

The Doctor looked at her and a slight smile emerged. "Saving me again are you?" he asked as he stalked over to her.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Somebody needs to keep you out of trouble. Now, come on," she said and grabbed his hand, dragging him to the door, but not before he turned back to look at the dark vestige of himself.

The Doctor in black winked at him. "I'll be waiting for you," he said cockily, grinning at the proper Doctor like the mad man he was.

After the door clicked shut behind them, the Doctor and Rose looked at each other. Rose broke the silence. "That room it was…"

"Terrifyingly real, filled with the possibilities of our doom."

"Yeah," Rose answered softly staring at the door.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor suddenly spit out.

Rose looked up at him confused.

"For other me. I saw you. In the room, I saw what you saw. You know that thing that happened to other me, when you lost him."

She stared at a wall for a long time before turning to the Doctor. "You… you saw my Doctor die?" she asked softly.

The Doctor just gazed at her as if she was a mystery he wanted to solve. The reality was that Rose Tyler was a complicated puzzle that fascinated and frustrated him. He couldn't resist poking at her in an attempt to unravel her mysterious nature.

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with the memory, the pain and sadness. "Yeah," she said softly. "Felt like I lost everything in there." She paused as if thinking about something and then looked back at him. "Our world was under attack from this species that doesn't exist in this universe. There was only one solution to stop them and it meant he would die so he sacrificed himself to save everyone. He's you. He did what had to be done."

"You're wrong. He wasn't me. He had you."

Rose smiled up at him. It wasn't the smile he loved, the one that lit up the room. "Oh don't know 'bout that. I do know that your him and he's you. After livin' with him all those years, I've never been more sure of it. Same man different face, the two of you. He saved everyone that day except there wasn't much for me to celebrate. Thought I would die and almost wanted to, but I couldn't. I had to live for him and for the kids and then there's the whole defender of the Earth and multiverse thing."

The Doctor grinned. "Someone's got to do it," he repeated what she had said earlier while saving him.

"Yep!" she nodded. Besides, he's not completely gone. He left an imprint of his consciousness in his sonic screwdriver. You see, he built this thing, sort of a database. He called it a Matrix. Said it was like what they did on Gallifrey only not as fancy. We spent our life together filling it with all the things we discovered and in the end, we uploaded him to it. It's sort of his legacy for the kids."

The Doctor suddenly started to laugh. His primary thought was what a genius he was. Even part human, he found a way to save something of his heritage without imploding the universe. A legacy. He rather liked that.

"Wot?" Rose asked, confused at his laughter.

"Come along, Tyler! Let's go find the Ponds and face off against this maniacal beasty that likes to eat up the unfortunate terrified guests at Hotel de Horrors."

Rose smiled a true Tyler smile at him, happy to see that light of mad adventure in his eyes. "You here with Amy and Rory then?" she asked.

"Oh they're about some place I imagine, more than likely, finding all the little fears and phobias running about like mice after cheese," he said and looked down the hall.

Rose smiled and grabbed his hand and they walked toward the stairs. "Guess we better catch up with them before they run across one of these rooms. So what were you on about a Minotaur?"

The Doctor turned to her as they walked. "Oh you know, your standard monster doing bad things, things you wouldn't like. Oh but he is a bit fantastic, gorgeous even. I can't wait to get a closer look! You see, it feeds off of fear. Likes its guests a bit tenderized by immersing them in their own nightmares."

"Of course it does," Rose said, nodding her head at his glee at finding a monster. She looked up at the ceiling as music echoed down the empty hall. "So what's with the rubbish music? It trying to scare us with really boring and soul sucking music?"

"Oh, you're standard torture no doubt. Twentieth century lift muzak is used in over hundred different prison systems as punishment," the Doctor recited, stopping abruptly and whirling about nearly hurling Rose into a wall. "Hello, look at you," he said looking into a camera mounted on the ceiling.

The Doctor turned to her with delight. "Come on!

Rose returned his grin. "You have a plan then?"

"Oh I always have something like a plan or plannish," he explained as they wound their way up and down the maze like halls until they reached reception desk. The Doctor ran back behind the front desk and looked at the various monitors mumbling "Oh you beautiful big fella where are ya?"

Rose stood beside him. "Doctor, whose she?" Rose asked, pointing to the dark haired intern, Rita who appeared on one of the screens.

"Rita, where are you going?" the Doctor murmured and dialed her up on a phone.

Rose watched as Rita picked up a phone nearby and the Doctor pleaded with her to let him help her. His face was a mix or concern, horror and anger. Rory and Amy burst into the room and wanted to know what was happening. Rose shook her head "No" as they all watched the Doctor scream at Rita to save herself. They all stood back and in horror as the beast took her. The Doctor soniced the camera off before Rita met her grisly death. He stormed off without word. Rory ran after him to help collect Rita's body.

Amy walked with Rose back to the dining room.

"So, you here to save us then?" Amy asked.

Rose shook her head. "Nope, 'm afraid I'm stuck here like you. Was havin' a bit of break before I ended up here, stuck in one of those scary rooms. The Doctor saved me."

Amy smiled. "He does that. Are you all right?"

"Are any of us?" Rose replied mysteriously.

In the dining room, Amy introduced Rose to Gibbis who asked if she was here to repress or enslave him. Rose looked at Amy who rolled her eyes. "Uh no, but thanks for asking," she replied to Gibbis. Rose looked around the room with the bodies lined up before ventriloquist dummies and felt a chill come over her. This was wrong. This whole place was just wrong, stale and dead.

Rory and the Doctor returned and laid Rita down beside the other bodies and the Doctor walked over and began knocking things over and shouting in aggravation. Rose and Amy flinched. Eventually, the group sat down at various tables to talk about what was happening.

"Okay, it preys on people's fear and possesses them," the Doctor finally said while toying with a Rubik's cube. "But Rita wasn't afraid, she was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."

Gibbis very negatively suggested there was no hope. Amy defended the Doctor. "Look, he'll figure it. He always does."

Rose sat up and looked at her, really looked at her. "Oh my Gawd," she muttered as an idea occurred to her.

The Doctor was also staring at Amy as realization dawned. "Oh, no, no, no!"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"It's not fear. It's faith and not just religious faith, faith in something."

Rose looked over at Amy and Rory watching the Doctor and then she looked down at table. Faith. She'd always had that, especially around the Doctor and she knew Amy was the same. She and Amy were about to become a buffet for this thing. An image of the Doctor in black flashed in her mind and thoughts of what would drive the Doctor over the edge into such a dark place. Loss. He had lost so much and losing people he cared about, felt protective of, would destroy him. Right then and there she made a decision to do anything in her power to stop that from happening no matter what it took. She looked up and watched him pacing wildly about the room.

"Howard believed in conspiracies, external forces controlling the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe. He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose. They all believed something was guiding them, about to save them. That's what it preys on, what it replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear, they fell back on their most fundamental faith."

He plunked down next to Rose and scrubbed at his face. "And all this time, I've been telling you to dig deep. Find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith. Showed them what they needed."

"It's not your fault," Rose said running her hand up and down his back.

"Isn't it? Isn't it always?" he responded darkly.

"But why us? Why are we here?" Rory asked.

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other. They grasped hands and then looked over at Amy and Rory.

"It doesn't want you. That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on. It wants Rose and Amy," the Doctor replied darkly.

"But why? Why us in particular?" Amy asked, walking over to the Doctor and Rose.

"Because you both have faith in me," the Doctor explained sadly, his eyes filled with concern as if the weight of the universe was on his shoulders once again. Rory looked over at them and looked down a the table. This was something that troubled him and not just because his wife's life was in danger. The Doctor said Amy had faith in him. Rory couldn't help a slight resentment. Amy was his wife and yet she had more faith in the Doctor than him.

Rose looked at Amy and leaned over toward her while the Doctor paced. "Amy, we both know how easy it is to see the Doctor as the hero. He sweeps into our lives and shows us amazin' things and we watch as he saves people and planets over and over again. It's all too easy to have faith in him, that he can save us and everyone when you see that on a daily basis. You and me, we're like a smorgasbord for this thing."

"And he's about to ring the dinner bell," Amy said fearfully.

"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping it?" Rory asked, growing more and more concerned for Amy as he watched her sit stiffly next to Rose.

"It needs to convert the faith into a form it can consume. Faith is an energy, the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live," the Doctor explained, pacing back and forth.

Suddenly, Amy whispered, "Praise him."

Rose gasped. Rory said, "No!" The Doctor turned and stared fearfully at Amy.

They could hear the beast stomping it's way toward them. Rose grabbed Amy's hand. "Right, time to run!"

"I'm not letting that thing take you Amy!" Rory shouted as they made their way out of the dining room, and began running through the hallways. They could here the beast grow closer and closer to them.

Amy stopped suddenly. "He is beautiful," she whispered in awe.

Rose ran back with Rory close behind. She looked down the hall at the large cloven footed beast. It had scraggly brown hair, raised tattoos on it's body and three horns protruding from it's minotaur-like head. It stared at her with vivid blue eyes and she knew that after Amy, she was next. "Rory!" she shouted.

Rory quickly grabbed Amy's arm and started to drag her but she was struggling. Gibbis, being the perpetual coward, wanted to leave her. Rose glared at him. She had no tolerance of cowardice. The Doctor grabbed Amy's other arm and Rose's hand.

"No time for sight seeing!" he shouted before hauling them all away at break neck speed.

The group ducked into a room where they saw young Amy by a window, sitting on her suitcase looking at the stars. Adult Amy collapsed onto her knees. Rose stared at young Amy and tears came to her eyes. She had heard Amy's story and how she had waited for the Doctor, but seeing it in person made it all more heartbreaking and real. She was Amy Pond, the girl that waited.

Amy called for the Doctor. "It's happening. It's changing me, it's changing my thoughts," Amy said, her eyes filled with fear.

The Doctor dropped to his knees next to her. "I can't save you from this. There's nothing I can do to stop it," the Doctor told Amy, staring meaningfully into her eyes. Rory was standing against the door and looked at the Doctor as if he couldn't believe he was saying those words to Amy. Rose stood rigid knowing what the Doctor was doing and feeling a twisting deep inside herself. This was painful for not just the two of them, but anyone who knew how close those two were.

The beast was banging against the door and howling. Rory had thrown himself against the door intent on keeping it out.

"What?" Amy asked, unable to believe he had said that.

"Oh Amy, I stole your childhood and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens," the Doctor said in a tired pain filled voice. He looked up at Rose meaningfully. Rose looked at him and felt tears well up.

The Beast broke into the room sending Rory tumbling. Rose took a step back. Gibbis cowered in a corner. The Doctor and Amy never flinched. Rose backed up and took Rory's hand and together they watched the Doctor destroy Amy's undying faith in him.

Once again, The Doctor stared deeply into Amy's eyes. "Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain, because I wanted to be adored. It's what I do. What I always do." He looked over at Rose, again conveying the same feelings to her with his ancient weary eyes. "I'm a selfish, lonely old man." Rose shook her head in response.

The Doctor turned back to Amy and gently stroked her hair. "Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me.

The beast groaned as if in pain.

Rory and Rose gasped as the Amy sitting before the Doctor turned into young Amelia Pond. Rose felt something inside herself crack as she watched that tiny bit of Amy's childhood shatter before her eyes. She also sensed the overwhelming loneliness of the Doctor seep into her mind as he let Amy go. For the first time, she felt how ancient he was. Her poor Doctor, he would always sacrifice his own happiness every time to save those he loved.

As he gazed down at young Amelia, the Doctor knew she finally understood. The rose colored glasses of her childhood were removed and she saw him. "I really am just a mad man in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are."

He kissed her forehead and she returned to being adult Amy. Rose watched as the beast staggered out the door.

"Amy Williams_, _it's time to stop waiting," the Doctor said softly, tapping her chin. Amy looked at him and a slight smile lit her face.

"Doctor!" Rose called out.

The Doctor looked back out the door at the collapsing beast. He stood up as Rory ran over to Amy and hugged her. The Doctor walked out to see the beast up close. He knelt down by it's side. "I've severed the food supply by sacrificing their faith in me," he told it, trying to comfort it as the hotel around them dissolved until they found themselves in a black room with a blue grid revealing the whole setting was nothing more than a virtual reality prison.

Everyone stood around the Doctor near the dying beast.

"What is it? An alien minotaur?" Amy asked and then mused, "That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning." Rory squeezed Amy's hand.

Rose looked at the two of them and smiled. Everything was as it should be. She looked back down at the Doctor, worry creasing her face. The Doctor said he destroyed her faith in him, but that was not necessarily true. After enough time had passed and after losing her Doctor in the alternate universe, she had learned to see the Doctor for who he really was long ago. She was once like Amy, blindly following him into Hell and back, never doubting his abilities. She wasn't that girl anymore, but that didn't mean she didn't have faith in him. It was now a more realistic faith tempered by time, motherhood, loss and a new purpose to her life.

The Doctor looked over at Amy to answer her question. "Minotaur, well it's a distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and set themselves up as Gods to be worshipped. Which is fine, until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons like this one." He walked over to a computer panel and showed them.

"But we're in space," Rory pointed out, looking at the stars twinkling beyond a porthole.

The Doctor, back in lecture mode, explained further how this was a prison in space snatching people from different worlds and how it had malfunctioned and instead of recording their fears, it stole their faith.

"What about you Doctor? It' didn't try and show you the door. What do you pray to?" Amy asked, staring at him speculatively. He avoided her question and looked at Rose pointedly.

"Time to leave I think," he said and held out his hand for Rose. Rose smiled brightly at him and walked over happily taking his hand. The beast growled and Rose paused, looking down at it compassionately.

"Doctor? Is he in pain?" Rose asked.

The Doctor walked over toward the beast with Rose's hand in his and leaned over. He frowned and stared at the beast for a long time.

"Doctor? What did he say?" Rose asked.

"He said…" The Doctor paused. "Thank you. That's all," the Doctor lied. He wasn't ready to reveal to Rose or anyone else that the beast had really said that the wolf would return to him to run at his side until the end of his days after a time of great darkness and sorrow had set upon him.

Everyone packed into the Tardis and they stopped off on Tivoli to let Gibbis return to his people. Rose and the Doctor had walked out with him only to find themselves faced with a committee of Gibbis people.

One promptly came forward and bowed to Rose, handing over a golden key. "Oh great and all merciful conqueror. The Tivoli bow down before your most merciful greatness and honorably surrender the planet."

Rose held up the key and looked around at the prostrated people including Gibbis.

"Uh, thanks!" she said and looked over her shoulder at the Doctor who was pretending to dust off a corner of the Tardis. She muttered to him, "I'm so gonna kill you," before turning back to the Tivoli people.

"Well, thank you for your most gracious surrender. It's always nice to meet people who don't want to shoot first," Rose said politely.

The Tivoli all looked up and nodded their heads. "And what is your command, all great and wise one. How may we serve you?" the Tivoli leader asked.

Rose heard the Doctor coughing in the background trying to hide his laughter. She rolled her eyes and looked down at the worshipping Tivoli. "Well, I want you to continue runnin' the planet the way you have been and just be…happy and uh fruitful. You know, continue to do good things. I'll be back to check on you unless you're, you know, conquered by someone else."

"Oh thank you, oh blessed dominar!" the all chanted.

"Right," Rose muttered. "Bye then." She turned and examined the big gold key which she thrust at the Doctor as they walked back into the Tardis. As soon as the doors closed he burst into laughter.

"What?" Amy asked. "What did we miss?"

"Oh nothing!" the Doctor replied as he raced up to the console. Amy and Rory turned to Rose.

"Oh, they just surrendered the planet to me. No big deal," she said waving her hand in the air and sat down on the jump seat.

"Next stop Earth!" the Doctor shouted as he madly dashed around the console.

Amy stared at Rose in deep thought. She walked over and sat down next to her and was silent for a moment. Rose was worried about her. "Amy, you okay?" she asked.

Amy turned to Rose. "Did he tell you he's married?" she spit out suddenly.

Rose looked at her and then smiled. "No, but he never tells anyone that!"

Amy cocked her head and squinted her eyes at Rose. Rory who had been observing this from a distance stepped closer. He knew what Amy was going to say to Rose but Rose's response was intriguing and worrying him.

"What!" Amy demanded.

"Oh, he marries all his companions at one point or another. Just sort of happens. Ya know?" Rose answered easily. It was the truth after all. With all the different alien planets and customs, it really was surprising how many times they had wandered into some cultural ritual or ceremony and accidentally been married. Although, at the time, Rose may not have known it. She didn't learn the truth until the topic of marriage had come up with her meta crisis Doctor in Pete's World. Now there had been a row with her mother.

"Sorry, but did you say he marries his companions by accident?" Rory asked, a bit horrified.

"Yeah, it's no big deal really. It just sort of happens," Rose answered him brightly.

Amy and Rory turned and stared at the Doctor who suddenly found himself immersed in Tardis navigation and ignored them.

Amy turned back to Rose. "That's not what I meant. I mean, he is married for real to my daughter, River."

Rose looked at Amy, her eyebrows raised in understanding and realization what this conversation was all about. "Oh, so you know who River is now."

"You knew!" Amy said raising her voice.

Rose sighed. "Amy I know lots of stuff I don't talk about. You've traveled with the Doctor long enough. Everything happens when it's s'pose to. You wouldn't want a universal ending paradox to occur now would ya?"

"Uh, universal ending paradox sounds bad," Rory commented.

Rose nodded her head. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Then you know that him and her are married and have a future together," Amy continued.

"Of course," Rose acknowledged, nonplussed by this statement.

Amy looked angry and Rory decided he better step in. He liked Rose. She was calm, compassionate and had always treated both he and Amy with kindness. "What Amy is trying to say is no one wants to see you hurt."

Rose looked at both of them and then at the Doctor who was peeking at her from around the time rotor. When he saw her looking, he ducked back.

When she looked back at them, she could see the concern and parental protectiveness evident on their faces. "Look, River's time with the Doctor is a fixed event. I won't interfere in that. I like River."

"You've met her?" Rory asked surprised.

"Yeah," Rose acknowledged smiling. She heard a thunk and a grunt as the Doctor somehow injured himself probably when he heard her. She smiled at that. So much for the Time Lord thinking he knows everything. "She helped me and my kids with something. We sort of bumped into each other."

"But, you love the Doctor!" Amy quite crankily demanded as if she needed a better answer.

"Of course I do," Rose said softly and compassionately. "I love him and I understand that no one person will ever monopolize him. The Doctor, he's bigger than me, River or you. He belongs to the Tardis and the universe really. I'll always be here when he needs me just like he's always there when River needs 'im. Understand?"

The Tardis landed with a thump jolting Rory to fall over onto the floor. He got up and glared at the Doctor.

"Earth proper!" The Doctor shouted and clapped his hands together and ran to the doors. Rory and Amy followed him but Rose stayed seated. Amy and Rory hesitated at the door and looked back at Rose. "Aren't you coming?" Amy asked.

"Naw, not this time. Think I'll wait this one out. My kids may be lookin' for me. I'll see you around though, yeah?"

Amy nodded. "Sure, see you around." Rory nodded to her and followed Amy out. Rose had a feeling she knew what was about to happen. He was letting them go. She could tell back in the virtual hotel that he was thinking about this day, the day he let them go. Something dark was on the horizon. She could feel that as well.

The Doctor walked slowly back into the Tardis making his way to the console. Rose walked over to stand next to them as he put them into the vortex. All of a sudden, he stopped and stared at the console. Rose put her hand on his arm and he looked over at her. "I had to," he said without prompting.

"I know," she answered quietly.

"Stay with me for a bit," he said without his typical manic demeanor.

Rose smiled. "Ya know, I was on holiday before I was transmatted. Still would like a bit of a holiday before I get back to the grind of savin' the universe."

He grinned at her and she walked around the console trailing her finger along the edge. "You never did take me to Barcelona," she said, peeking around the time rotor.

"Barcelona!" he shouted. "Dogs with no noses it is!" he said and in a tangle of long limbs dashing back and forth he sent them into the vortex.

Rose helped him, hitting a switch here and there. She knew she couldn't stay with him permanently, at least not yet. Something was coming and she couldn't interfere in it, but she could give him Barcelona, for now.


End file.
